September 11, 2001, was a normal, get-ready-for-work day. I was co-hosting an afternoon drive program with Peggy Sue Gerron of Buddy Holly fame from 4 to 6pm at a Lubbock radio station. I always tried to stay abreast of the daily news so I could discuss topics that our listeners might bring up.  The only special event occurring that day was my niece’s 6^th birthday. Life as usual.

I flipped the TV remote on national news as I always did in the mornings and heard about a plane crashing into a tower in New York. By the time I walked in front of the TV to see what was going on, the second plane crashed. It took a few moments of observing and listening to frantic reporters to fully grasp what had happened. 

I quickly got dressed and, after talking to Peggy Sue, packed a go bag in case something happened while I was at Lubbock and couldn’t get back to Brownfield.

The drive to Lubbock was eerily quiet. There was no traffic. I ordinarily saw people working in the fields or outside their homes; and crop, commercial and passenger planes were usually somewhere in the skies at that time of year. That day—nothing.  The radio was my constant companion. I kept scouring the sky as I drove. We had been warned to watch out for rogue crop dusters.

 I’ve never been known as a pareidoliac. I’ve had friends who could see elephants or dragons in clouds; I would scrunch my eyes and struggle to envision the image, but to me, a cloud was just a cloud. This day, however, one caught my eye just about the time I got to Meadow. For some reason, it seemed to fill me with an inner peace.  It pretty much stayed the same shape all the way to the outskirts of Lubbock. I was so taken by it that I stopped by the road long enough to snap a photo.

At the office, we monitored our tiny 12” black and white TV and several radio stations while trying to collect as much information as we could. The afternoon drive show that day was, to say the least, somber.

My sister received a call from her daughter in Dallas asking her to come as soon as she could get a flight out so she could help with the kids. My niece was a respiratory therapist at Baylor Hospital and her husband worked for Delta Airlines. She was immediately put on call and he was ordered to stay on location at DFW indefinitely to help watch over the security of the planes.

My sister was on the first plane to leave Lubbock after the flying ban was lifted. I can’t say the rest of the family was as scared as she was, but it probably would have been a close contest. We monitored every move and listened for news reports in case there was a problem.

“Okay. She’s on the plane….It’s taking off….I can’t see it anymore.”

“She’s here….She’s okay….We couldn’t go in….We had to circle around the drive until we could pick her up, but Jim (the son-in-law Delta employee) has her.”

There are some ways life changed forever for me as a result of that day. Delta, as well as all airlines, was in jeopardy. Jim’s job was never the same after that. He eventually transferred to Billings, Montana, and took my niece, four young children, and my sister with him, leaving me an 18-hour drive from family so I couldn’t be with them as often as I was used to on weekends, birthdays and holidays. Flying became a hassle with its long lines, scans and restrictions, plus the cost went up and up. (What prices haven’t since then?)

There have been some disconcerting times since 9-11-01. Wars, warning codes running across the TV screen, anthrax scares, etc. have kept people on edge for way too long. We have been fortunate, though, that there hasn’t been a repeat of 9-11 on our soil for ten years. It was good for the ten year anniversary to recognize all those who have worked so hard to keep us safe.

Kaitlyn just celebrated her sixteenth birthday. When she was six, she was upset with the sadness people felt on her “birthday” date. She wanted it to be a happy day. Facebook posts this year still showed some regret about the date as she celebrated a milestone in her life. That’s too bad.

Just for the fun of it and to lighten the topic a little, I am including the picture I took on 9-11. Do any of you see anything special about it? Maybe it was just me that day.

Author: GlendaCameron
Author, writer, radio host, and educator Glenda Cameron has been co-host of TownTalk since 2006. In addition, she serves as Media Producer and contributing writer to www.towntalkradio.com. She began her radio career in Littlefield, Texas, at KZZN, later moving to KJAK and KFRE in Lubbock. Glenda’s hobbies include guitar, piano, and scanography.